Manchester City And PSG Fail Uefa FFP Guidelines

According to media reports Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are among a number of clubs who have been offered settlements for failing Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.

UEFA’s club financial control board (CFBCB) has made offers to all the clubs deemed to have breached the rules ahead of its meeting on Thursday.

The clubs, which the Press Association reports total fewer than 20 and include City and PSG, can either accept the offer of the sanctions, which could consist of a reprimand or fine or restrictions on the squad for European competition next season, or they could try to negotiate a lesser punishment.

If no agreement is reached, then the outstanding cases will go to an adjudicatory panel for a final decision.

It is not known what settlements each individual club has been offered but UEFA could reveal the outcomes as early as Friday.

The most powerful sanction — exclusion from European competition — is not expected to be used against any of the clubs, with UEFA president Michel Platini telling Le Parisien last week:

“If you are expecting blood and tears, you’ll be disappointed.”

The big question has always been what will Uefa do with the big club thats flaunt the FFP rules? Will they simply give them a slap on the wrist, or is Uefa willing to play hardball with some of Europe’s elite?

The biggest “offender” of FFP has been Qatar-owned PSG who used accounting wizardly to wipe out their losses with a huge and back-dated sponsorship deal with the Qatar Tourist Authority. Platini had said last week he was unsure if that “innovative” sponsorship deal with a related party played by the rules.

He said in Le Parisien:

“I will say simply that Paris St Germain’s financial model is distinctive and atypical. That image contract with the QTA, the tourism office of Qatar, is innovative, that’s all I can say. But is it viable? Is the value of the contract correct? These are questions that the experts must decide.”

PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi recently told Canal Plus that he did not believe his club had breached the regulations, saying:

“We’re well within the UEFA rules. There’s no problem. We’ll see, we’re talking with UEFA… I’m very confident.”

The French newspaper Le Parisien is not so sure about al-Khelaifi’s claims as they are reporting that PSG will be fined “tens of millions of euros” and given a year to respect several financial objectives.